(Yicai Global) June 14 -- Chinese online education provider New Oriental Education and Technology Group’s new mix of English lessons with livestreamed e-commerce is proving very popular and profitable, market insiders told Yicai Global.

The combination of English-language learning with live sales is turning out to be a huge hit with customers and the e-educator has been achieving turnover of over CNY10 million (USD1.4 million) a day since the new format launched earlier this month.

The host on New Oriental’s farm produce live sales studio Oriental Select, set up at the end of last year, shifted CNY15 million (USD2.2 million) worth of commodities on June 10 by giving English lessons at the same time.

Steak supplier Peng Ming has been a vendor on Oriental Select since May. The new formula has attracted a lot of attention in recent days, introducing his meat products to a wider audience and earning him over CNY1 million (USD140,000) a day, he told Yicai Global. In May, his earnings rarely entered five figures.

The Beijing-based company also charges low fees for livestreaming, Peng said. Other broadcasters ask for both airing fees and sales commissions as well as for a large number of samples. Oriental Select does not charge airing fees and only requires a few samples.

“Usually, commissions of between 10 percent and 15 percent are levied on farm produce,” said Zhang Sanfeng, who works at a network agency in Hangzhou. Oriental Select is not out to make money at this stage, it just wants to attract more followers.

Oriental Select was one of Douyin’s top five live sales performers on June 10, China Securities said in a research report. With its current daily growth rate of as many as 800,000 fans, the studio could have more than 10 million followers in a week’s time, it said.

If it is able to achieve a turnover of CNY10 million a day, it could achieve gross merchandise value of CNY3.7 billion (USD550 million) a year, the report said. With a greater variety of products and a bigger spend per customer, the firm’s profit margin could climb to 5 percent, it said.

Editor: Kim Taylor